


You Jump, I jump

by StarvingArtistProduction



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fix It, Fix It Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:02:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27584467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarvingArtistProduction/pseuds/StarvingArtistProduction
Summary: Ben Solo feels like a prisoner being dragged into a company merger in the USA, and is embarking on the maiden voyage of the historical Titanic. Can he cope with the loneliness and distaste he has?Rey Kenobi wins passage on the historic voyage of the Titanic with a lucky hand in poker; free spirited and confident, she makes a connection that she never thought possible.In a chance encounter, Ben and Rey are thrust into circumstances that challenge them both, and spark the beginning of a journey that no ship can take them on.
Relationships: Ben Solo and Rey - Relationship, Ben and Rey - Relationship, Reylo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	You Jump, I jump

**Author's Note:**

> Reylo story following James Cameron’s ‘’Titanic’ movie. Sort of a fix it fic, based on a dream that I had a few months ago. I thought that the Reylo arch might fit really well!

Ben:

Unsinkable; at least, that’s what they claimed, but Ben wasn’t entirely sure that he believed the claim about the new Dream Liner. The ‘Ship of Dreams’ some called it, a boat of such luxury that it’s equal couldn’t even be fathomed, but Ben doubted that too. He was of the opinion that it was all a bunch of bloated nonsense that was being used to drum up publicity and excitement, and thus ticket sales for the long awaited maiden voyage.  
Grimacing to himself, he adjusted his top hat before exiting the vehicle onto the overcrowded dock, straightening his coat tails and then turning back to help his mother from the car then her hand maid, who gave him a shy but grateful smile. Once he was sure that both women had their footing, he turned and craned his neck to gaze at the imposing ship in all of it’s splendor.  
At an impressive eight hundred and eighty-two feet, nine inches, they dark grey hull seemed to stretch an admittedly fair distance from stem to stern, and Ben estimated that the massive white lettering on the side that proclaimed “EPS Titanic” could easily be twenty or more feet high to make it easily seen. Said to be the most luxurious vessel ever to be afloat, yet Ben couldn’t help but see it as a prison ship of sorts, dragging him away from his life in Britain kicking and screaming the whole way.  
“Simply glorious, isn’t she?” a voice at his shoulder said, and Ben turned to see Armitage Hux beaming up at the vessel with an exorbitant amount of pride that Ben didn’t really understand.  
“I suppose,” Ben said. “I just don’t see what all of the fuss is about; it doesn’t look any bigger than the Mauritania...”  
Hux made a sound of complete disgust and said, “It’s more than one hundred feet LONGER than the Mauritania! And FAR more luxurious.”  
“Is it safe to assume that you believe everything that they are saying about her, then?” Ben asked, arching a dark eyebrow at the ginger man. “How she’s unsinkable?”  
“She IS unsinkable, Benjamin, my boy,” Hux said, frowning at Ben as if he’d just insulted his mother. “God himself could not sink this ship.”  
“Awfully bold words to be spoken by a mere man,” Ben said dismissively, narrowing his eyes at Hux’s use of his full first name, as well as his calling him “my boy” as if he were a child to be scolded; both men were well into their adulthood, with only three years separating them, though Ben was the younger of the pair.  
“Gentleman, please, let’s not squabble so soon,” Leia said, appearing at her son’s elbow and looping her arm through his. “Seven days on a ship is quite a long time if you think about it, so let’s at least try to get along for the majority of it.”  
Hux’s lip curled in mild distaste, but he said nothing, instead offering his arm to the tall blonde woman he had been courting for some time, a Miss Gwen Phasma, who Ben had shared very few words with, and found he liked even less. She seemed to be able to keep a handle on Hux, who could be a real bastard when he wanted to be, but there was something unsettling about her, something that made her seem dangerous somehow.  
As if on some unheard but mutually felt cue, the four of them turned and began to walk towards the first class gang plank, tickets tucked safely into inner coat pockets and hand bags, all buzzing with an excitement that Ben simply could not understand, nor force himself to feel. All he wanted was to run screaming in the other direction, run as far as his legs could carry him away from this god forsaking ship and everything it represented. But, he couldn’t do that either, and with a sickening sinking feeling deep in his gut, he boarded the vessel, holding his breath until he crossed from the wooden plank and onto the sleek wooden flooring on the ship’s first class receiving deck. 

Rey: 

Keeping her face cool and composed, Rey darted her hazel eyes to Finn’s over the top of her battered cards, seeing that his face was also carefully neutral whether he had anything or not. She knew that he had nothing at all, but she supposed that only came from years of playing together and learning how to read him even when he was giving nothing at all away.  
Quickly, she glanced around the circle to gauge the rest of the group, four in all, for any sign of weakness. Two of them had less than nothing, one looked as though he might have something good, and the fourth had a cocky arch in his left eyebrow that he seemed powerless to control, or completely unaware of. But he also had nothing, at least nothing that was going to beat what she had.  
“Okay boys,” she said, shifting slightly in her chair and brushing her bangs back from her forehead. “Someone is a winner, the question is who...”  
No one said anything for several tense seconds, then the two she had pegged as having nothing shook their heads and folded, muttering about unlucky and piss-poor hands, though one of them had been the dealer and so couldn’t accuse anyone of fixing the deck. Rey doubted if either of them had enough skill to even attempt to fix it, but she kept her opinion to herself.  
“And you?” She asked the third man, who shook his head to say that he wasn’t sure exactly, then sighed and revealed that he had a straight.  
“Dammit!” Finn said, slapping his cards down on the table and rubbing his forehead. “I’ve got nothing at all; up to you Rey.”  
“You and me, bud,” Rey said to the fourth man, still keeping her tone as neutral as possible. From the corner of her eye she could see Finn staring at the pile of money and other things of value in the center of the table, almost longingly. They had both bet too much by far, but Rey felt pretty certain that this was going to go very well for them.  
“What do you say we make it a bit more interesting?” He asked, shifting and reaching into the pocket of his dirty trousers, producing two crumpled pieces of paper. With the air of a man who thinks he owns the world, he slammed the papers down onto the table and smoothed them out as best he could with one hand, revealing two third class tickets.  
“Whoah,” Finn said, sitting bolt upright, his eyes going wide as he read the information printed on them. “Rey...”  
“That confident you’ve won this, huh?” Rey asked, now allowing herself a soft smirk. “Those aren’t cheap.”  
“They ain’t replaceable neither,” the cocky man said, jabbing one meaty finger at them for emphasis. “Maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, one way to America.”  
“Cost you everything you had and then some as well, I’d bet,” Rey said, feeling a thrill run up her spine. America! She’d never been to America before, though from what she had read it was a pretty great place to be: a place to work and find yourself, a place to get away from this place. “I don’t have anything to call that bet, I’m afraid.”  
As she spoke, she made a point to fiddle with the leather strap of her shoulder bag to draw his attention to it. There wasn’t much in it at all besides her sketch pads and the last ten dollars that she had to her name, money she had kept aside and swore not to bet in case she or Finn lost. At least that way, they would still be able to eat for a bit while they looked for work to feed themselves again. The cocky man’s eyes darted to her hand and a nasty grin pulled across his face as he pointed to it.  
“Is that real leather?” He asked.  
“This?” Rey asked, sounding as coy as she could, lifting it up for his inspection. “Yes, deer hide; my grandfather made it, it was the last thing he gave me before he died.”  
The lie was smooth; true it was deer hide, but she had been the one to skin it, with Finn’s help, and it was no more than two years old. But the man seemed to think that it was very special to her, and that was all she needed.  
“Tell you what,” he said, pausing to take a long gulp of his beer. “You throw that and everything in it down, and I’ll accept it as a call for these tickets. What d’ya say, missy?”  
Rey made a show of glancing down at the thing and mulling it over as if it was the hardest choice she had to make. Then, nodding firmly, she drew the strap up over her head and laid the bag on the top of the pile of money and trinkets. Grinning like a wolf, the man laid down his cards with a point to snap each of the cards one by one dramatically, keeping his hand cupped over them for a second before revealing his hand.  
“Four of a kind,” he said smugly, and his three fellows let out a mix of cheers and sighs of relief. “And you?”  
Rey heaved a sigh, then turned to Finn and said, “Finn, I’m so sorry...”  
“That was the last of our money, Rey!” Finn said, shoving back from the table and burying his face in his hands. “Dammit, why did you have to raise the stakes like that if you knew,-“  
“I’m sorry,” Rey cut him off while simultaneously slapping her hand down on top of the pile of winnings. “But you’re not going to see your mom and pop for a long time... ‘Cause we’re going to America! STRAIGHT FLUSH!”  
The uproar that surrounded them was a boisterous mix of angry protests and cheers as Finn let out a whoop of excitement, throwing his arms around Rey’s middle and swinging her in a circle. The four opponents were now fighting amongst themselves, calling one another out for being reckless and on one instance, a sucker for a pretty girl.  
“Gentleman!” The bar keep bellowed, calming them rather quickly. “And lady... That there ship you just won passage on, well, she’s leaving in five minutes!”  
Rey’s eyes snapped to the clock and saw that it was five minutes until two in the afternoon; if they weren’t there before then, that was it, even the tickets couldn’t get them aboard.  
“Shit,” Rey breathed, then turned and began grabbing handfuls of coins and paper money, shoving it into her pockets, then her pack once they were full. Finn handed her one of the tickets, and she shoved it in her front pocket, almost not wanting to have it anywhere but in her hands, lest it evaporate or grow legs and walk off. “Thank you for a most interesting game, gentleman!”  
Heart racing, Rey snatched her day bag that held her meager clothing supply, a spare pair of work boots and other random belongings, slung it over her shoulder, followed by the strap of her pack that was now almost bulging with winnings. Finn gave her a playful push, and they were both out the door and tearing up the street towards the dock yards and the beginning of what Rey was sure would be the journey of their lives.  
The ship was enormous, and could be seen from a ways off, its four smoke stacks thrusting high up towards the blue sky like fingers on a waving hand. So close, yet so far, as the dock was packed with people, all shoulder to shoulder, waving and watching for the ship to begin moving towards the sea.  
“Excuse me,” Rey repeated like a broken record as she shouldered her way through the crowd, earning more than a few odd looks and an occasional scowl as she kept her eyes open for the nearest gang plank. To her dismay, only one was left down, and the last few people were already being hurried aboard.  
“Run girl, run!” Finn said, grasping the neck of her shirt and pulling her along at a pace she wasn’t sure she could keep up with. Much to her surprise, she didn’t trip at all, and before she knew it, her boots were slapping down on the damp wood of the gang plank, angled upwards just enough to make her calves and thighs burn by the time they reached the top. “Hey, wait!”  
“Sir,” a tall man in a crewman’s uniform said, nodding first to Finn, then upon seeing Rey added, “Ma’am. Have you been through the health check point?”  
“Yes, of course,” Finn said, reaching into his pocket and brandishing his ticket. “We’ve both got tickets, free of lice and all; anyway we’re Americans!”  
Rey nodded in excited agreement and produced her own ticket, smiling in what she hoped was an encouraging way at the crewman who was squinting at the pair of them.  
“Truly, we are,” Rey added, doing what she felt was a horrific imitation of an American accent. “Please, we have work on the other side.”  
The crewman gave Rey one last cursory glance, noting that she was wearing a faded old pair of men’s work slacks rather than a dress, which would have undoubtedly been more proper for a lady, then shook his head to himself and said, “Welcome aboard, come on then, Miss.”  
“Thank you!” Rey said, beaming at Finn who allowed her to go first in a display of chivalry that they would both laugh at later. Without pausing to wait for a reply from the crewman, Rey took off down the corridor at a dead run, following the trickle of people who were making their way to the top decks for one last farewell to the people below. “What’s the matter, can’t run as fast now that you’re here?”  
“Burned all of it dragging your butt here,” Finn retorted, swatting at the back of her day pack playfully.  
Finding the path to the third class deck was easy, and Rey once again found herself shouldering her way through the excited crowd until she found a decent spot at the railing and looking at the people far below. They looked impossibly tiny from her vantage point, a large mass of color and faces, waving to anyone in particular as the sound of the horn pierced the air, signaling the beginning of the trip.  
Ropes that were holding the ship close to the dock were thrown off from below and gathered up by unseen hands. Now free, the ship began to move away from the dock, pulled along by tug boats, and to Rey it looked almost like a dark chasm being split open between the dock’s edge and the side of the ship, broken by a few swirls of water. The sight made her feel slightly dizzy, and Rey forced herself to look away from the gap, choosing instead to wave along with the rest of the crowd around her and Finn.  
“Do you see anyone you know?”  
“Of course not,” Rey said. “It’s not them I’m saying goodbye to, it’s this chapter of my life, ya know? Moving on to bigger and better things, finding fortune perhaps.”  
Shrugging, Finn joined in on her waving, letting out a few whoops of joy as the dock slowly grew further and further away until the tug boats pulled the massive ship into a turn and the dock slid from view. Rey turned towards the bow of the ship where open water lay out before them in an endless expanse, sun glinting almost painfully off of it’s crystal surface. Rey felt the engines far below start up like a quake under her boots, and found herself grinning at the though of just how powerful they must be in order to be felt clear up on the decks.  
‘No going back now,’ she thought, and the notion filled her with pure excitement.


End file.
